IOA delegation for the IOC meeting

The acting president of the suspended Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Prof. Vijay Kumar Malhotra, will lead a four-member delegation for the meeting with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), scheduled to be held at its headquarters in Lausanne, on May 15.

On Friday, in a communication addressed to the IOC president, Dr. Jacques Rogge, it was mentioned that N. Ramachandran (squash), Tarlochan Singh (archery) and S. Reghunathan (kayaking and canoeing) will accompany Prof. Malhotra for the meeting, as the only officialrepresentation from the IOA.

The IOA office, however, had on Thursday suggested a five-member delegation, including the three now mentioned by Malhotra, plus R.K. Anand and N.K. Batra.

On Friday, the IOA office wrote again to the IOC to state that it should not entertain Malhotra’s proposal alone but should consider he five-member delegation as suggested.

In a late development, the IOA wrote to IOC, “The list sent by Mr. V.K. Malhotra does not represent the consensus arrived amongst the National Sports Federations in India. The NSF’s request that all the five delegates of NFSs are invited to the 15th May, 2013 meeting in Lausanne as leaving out any one would result in delegation not representing and reflecting the different views of the National Sports Federations and the Olympic Movement in India.”

The IOC, in its letter sent on Thursday, had stated that the delegation of the suspended IOA “represent and reflect the different views of the national sports federations and the Olympic movement in India.”

It was also categorically mentioned by the IOC that “the suspended IOA, consult, coordinate and agree with its member federations to submit the names of not more than three representatives of national sports federations.”

While the secretary general of the suspended IOA, Randhir Singh is expected to be part of the delegation in his capacity as the IOC member in the country, the Union Sports Ministry announced a five-member delegation from its side, led by the Sports Minister Jitendra Singh.